The present application relates to improvements in scientific equipment and, in particular, to inclusion of meta language tools within software packages for use with chromatography or spectroscopy.
For chromatographic data analysis, a developer or expert typically creates a method that contains instrument parameters for a particular sample to control a chromatographic instrument. Once the method is created, the sample is “run” using settings in the method to produce peaks, and a report may be generated. The content of the report is based upon the processing of data or signal by the data analysis method.
A calibration table may be used to provide additional information about a particular peak. The information contained in the calibration table generally describes parameters used to identify the peak. However, an operator may need additional information about a particular compound or a peak besides its name. For example, the operator may need additional information about the physical and chemical attributes of a compound or other information relating to a sample being analyzed. To include the additional information as additional fields in the calibration table is prohibitive and generally not expected as part of the chromatographic data analysis package. The additional information may be added using customized reporting solutions, but may require either special software packages or programming by the report developer. Also, the operator may be required to utilize another software application when accessing the report.
Currently, software suppliers and operators may append and embed additional information in a final report by generating a custom report with hyperlinks. With the advent of the world wide web (WWW) and the use of browser technology, many operators are familiar with using hyperlinks to access the additional information from the final report. However, the operator must be quite knowledgeable about the compound or know the source location of the information to access the additional information efficiently from the WWW.